haiku (Happy 7 Month Anniversary, Jay!)

The Spring sun through the

window pane casts a rainbow

on your bare shoulder.

Photo by: Osquer

One Word - so little time [expunge]

While it had only taken moments and the act of turning the key in her car's ignition on Friday to expunge all thoughts of work from her mind, as Sunday was wearing on responsibility began to creep back into her brain and the stacks of paper that waited on her desk towered in her future.

haiku

river mist shrouds my

journey and my mind is fogged

with thoughts of soft sheets

Photo by: Osquer

One Word - so little time [dour]

Her habit had made Sister Tony appear dour, so Johnny was stunned to find his teacher laughing in the parking lot as she kicked a soccer ball around with some of the younger students. They seemed unsurprised by this behavior. So, Johnny resolved to be more observant of how the nuns behaved when they didn't have rulers in their hands.

55 Fiction Friday

“I am sorry, father,” She spoke the word tentatively, bringing a shy smile to the usually reticent duke’s face, “I really do not know if Professor Wayman had any knowledge of my identity and, unfortunately, I have no way of contacting him now.” That certainly was the truth as Jessica did not believe in séances.

[FIRST] [PREVIOUS] (to be continued...)

haiku (for Pendragon the Parrot)

“I just washed my hair

and I can’t seem to do a

single thing with it.”

Photo by: Osquer

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [animadversion]

"This memo is a disgrace! Don't you proofread these things before you shove them in front of me to be signed?"

I quietly took the page back from him and returned to my desk to scour it for the mistake that had been the cause of his animadversion. Finally I found it. I had put a colon where he had intended a semi-colon. The smiley face in the note to his five-year-old son wasn't winking. How could I have been so stupid?

haiku

One Word - so little time [perforce]

Because the website was down and my payment had to be made immediately, I perforce called the customer service line. May the gods have mercy on my soul. I never really felt one way or another about "The Girl From Ipanema" before, but I think if I hear that song one more time I won't be responsible for my actions.

haiku

In case anyone

wanted to see the final

form of this candle...

Photos by: Osquer

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [clerisy]

I had once considered myself a member of the clerisy, but the more time I spend in the company of my so called superiors at work, the lower I think my I.Q. becomes. I've never known so many managers who couldn't manage their way out of a a summit between Canada and Australia. Okay. I'm done kvetching now. Thank you.

haiku

Oh snap! If only

I’d looked down a few tenths of

a mile earlier!

haiku

Now that sky is what

I’m thinking when I say the

word “periwinkle.”

* * * * * * *

Photos by: Osquer

I’ve just added “periwinkle” to my list of “Words That Are Fun To Say.” To see the current list and suggest additions [click here]!

haiku - HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!

Streams are babbling

pattering and my heart joins

them in excitement.

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [empyrean]

Though her loving attention carried his heart into the empyrean, her absence plunged him into such depths of despair that he almost couldn't bear to see her again. Each time she left to go home it was like a little death. Only the rebirth of her return made it worth it. This transatlantic romance was slaying his resolve. Maybe he could go back home again...for her...

haiku (for Jay)

My tears, caught in the

embrace of your arms, become

glistening diamonds.

Photos by: Osquer

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise

While the old adage, "You'll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind." is true, neither could I till frozen ground. I gazed out the window at the only half melted snow and considered as well as I could in my own mind what plants I wanted to buy for this year's garden.

magnetic haiku (for Jay)

Photos by: Osquer

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [limpid]

Try as I might to get my mind into a limpid state so that I could write something worthwhile, it was cluttered up with all of the distractions that I couldn't get rid of. I considered locking myself in a room where I could be alone, but then there was not stimulus, no inspiration.

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [specious]

It wasn't until Johnny's ball rolled into the flower bed in his aunt's garden that it's specious nature was revealed. For all its bright colors and exotic blooms, the ragged edges of the lower leaves indicated an unsavory secret. Johnny's aunt had a slug problem.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

haiku pair from the point of view of an Irish lad on St. Patrick's Day

She was in the crowd

clapping her hands, carefree, to

the Irish music


and I watched her grow

self conscious as I watched her

skin blush with my gaze.

haiku (for Jay)

Recalling burgers

that you recently grilled, all

I could think was, “Damn!”

Photo by: Osquer

55 Fiction Friday

Jessica continued, “After the Applegates died, my father’s research partner became my guardian and mentor. Professor Wayman raised me from the age of ten. We unfortunately had a falling out, but not before he gave me the means to recover my birth certificate.”

“Do you think that he knew your identity?” asked her father eagerly.

[FIRST] [PREVIOUS] (to be continued...)

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [canvas]

A vast plane of white spread out before me like a blank canvas. I could write anything I chose, the only limit was my stamina. Naturally, perhaps predictably, I decided to write my name in the snow as big as I could, so I began shuffling along with my feet forming the shapes of the letters. What were you expecting me to write with? I'm a girl!

* * * * * * *

Today's word kindly supplied by Jay.

Friday's Feast

Feast One Hundred & Thirty Five

Appetizer
Name two things that made you smile this week.

Jay. The sun.

Soup
Fill in the blank: Don't you hate it when ________?

people are stupid

Salad
When you can't go to sleep, what is your personal remedy to help yourself drift into Lullabyland?

losing myself in mental fantasies which I frequently have to get up and write down...sigh

Main Course
What is something about which you've always wondered but have not yet found a good answer?

What really happens when we die?

Dessert
What is your favorite pasta dish?

Alfredo, baby!

haiku

As raindrops they may

not look like much, but just get

them all together…

Photo by: Osquer

With the whole county

under flood watch, I'm grateful

I live on a hill!

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [taciturn]

I had to admit it, the winter had turned me taciturn. It was as though my vocal chords were frosted over from breathing the dry frozen air. My words were as stiff as my joints and as warm as my earlobes on a day when I'd forgotten my scarf. Thank goodness that March was thawing both my body and my mind.

haiku

Crocuses poke their

noses through the mulch though late

frost may nip at them.

Photo by: Osquer

haiku (for Jay)

One letter of the

alphabet has now become

an endearment, J.

haiku

Hints of green catch my

eye as I drive through the woods.

Ferns are waking up.

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [descry]

Try as I might, I just could not descry his motive. He gained absolutely nothing by allowing us to travel with him except difficulty. Alone on his horse, he could move quickly, but he already had to help us unstick one of the wheels of our wagon. What could he possibly be after. Then I saw the way he smiled at my sister as he helped her back into the wagon. Then I knew what he hoped to gain.

haiku (for Jay)

I feel the sun on

my back and smile knowing you

are already home.

Photo by: Osquer
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

haiku

Remains of winter

swept aside, but there's no rug

to hide them under.

Photo by: Osquer
Snow Sculpture by: Crafton Boro

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [cogitate]

I had only a minute to cogitate on the word of the day before I would be out of time to write about it. Sometimes by the time I gather my thoughts about something, the window has passed and I miss the event I was trying to capture in words. The same thing happens with photos. Today, by the time I got my camera, the bird I wanted to use the telephoto lens to identify had flown to a perch where he was back lit and I couldn't make out a single color of his feathers.

Photo by: Osquer
(I think it's a robin.)

haiku (for Jay)

You smile to give me

reminders of the fireworks

the night we first met.

Photos by: Osquer

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [trepidation] A True Story

It was with no small amount of trepidation that I finally voiced the words that had been rattling around in my head for days. It wasn’t the first time I’d said them for the first time, but I hoped it would be the last. “I do love you!” I gasped, unable to hold them back any longer. “I think you know I love you, too,” he smiled and kissed me.

haiku

Shadows shift with the

season and commencement of

daylight savings time.

Photo by: Osquer

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [nonplus]

I was a bit nonplussed by his generosity. It wasn’t that I’d never been spoiled before, but he seemed to take even more delight in his gifts than I did. His eyes echoed the reflection of the gems that sparkled in my own surprised gaze. The flowers’ color blushed as brightly in his cheeks as it did in my own.

haiku

I reach out and tweak

the sky’s big red cloud nose and

the sun winks at me.

Photo by: Osquer

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercies [effete]

"That candle may be effete, but it's still pretty."

"I know, but we have precious little space. I just can't let you pack-rat things that have no practical use. Besides, I shouldn't be letting you burn candles on the space station anyway. We have to conserve oxygen. There's only so much algae in the hydro-dome."

55 Fiction Friday

“This proves it,” nodded Duke Gregory. “Your birth certificate was stolen the night you were kidnapped. Our only clue was that your nanny also went missing. That trail went cold when her body was found floating in the Thames a week later. After that you just vanished without a trace. But please, continue your narrative.”

[FIRST] [PREVIOUS] (to be continued...)

haiku (for Jay)

This early daylight

savings time will take back our

sunrise drives to work.

Photo by: Osquer

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [successful]

"While I hope your venture is successful, I really feal that you are leaving for the wrong reason," his mother cautioned him, "You should never do a thing just to please a woman even if she is your queen and your mother."

"But your magesty," he smiled respectfully, "I'm doing this to please two women. There is a lady across the sea that I intend to bring home and make my princess!"

* * * * * * *

Today's word kindly supplied by Jay.

haiku (for Jay)

Tracing the vine's bulk

on a quiet winter day,

I see what you mean.

Photo by: Osquer

Fibonacci Poem

I

am

startled

by morning

birdsong, but no less

by the cold air that meets my gasp.

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [malapropism]

"You could have knocked me over with a fender!" She concluded her story with a grin. I avoided pointing out her malapropism because I knew it would just start her off on another tangent and I was relieved that her long rambling story was over. Besides, I was imagining how much I would like to see her knocked over with a fender...of someone's car. I really should learn to drink more at these office parties.

haiku

This shot would have been

more fun if there had been a

train on the trestle.

Photo by: Osquer

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercise [collegial]

While the brainstorming session didn't exactly create a collegial atmosphere, it did at least get everyone talking, or rather shouting about the difficulties they had all been facing. When everyone realized that all of their recent problems had been caused by the same unreasonable supervisor who had called this meeting, the shouting became more harmonious and suddenly suggestions were being made. They weren't the most positive suggestions, most of them involving impossible physical acts with office equipment, but they were at least on the same page for once.

magnetic haiku

I dream green gardens
beneath winter's frost fever
Eden's ghost lingers

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercixse [indefatigable]

Long before she had reached the end of her indefatigable supply of questions, I had run out of answers. It was especially the ones that began with "Why" that made me cringe. If adults could come up with as many creative notions as this three year old, we would already have colonies on the moon.

magnetic haiku

picture this moment
as we will recall it, a
diamond cut by time

One Word - so little time - One Minute Writing Exercies [galumph]

"Look, I know you're depressed, but you can't just galumph around this place in your underwear smashing things. Eventually you'll run out of things to smash. Come on, get up. We're just going to have to find you a new mad scientist. I wish they were more durable, but you just don't know your own strength. There's a good monster."

magnetic haiku

winter wind plays harsh
with spring thinking, clouding warm
smiles in frosty breath

haiku (March 2, 2007)

May I never cease

to find wonders, even at

the grocery store.

Photo by: Osquer - March 2, 2007

One Word - so little time - one minute writing exercise [sagacious]

As sagacious as her guardian was, he had not discovered that every night at midnight little Sally sneaked out of the house and went wandering over the countryside. She cavorted with faeries and elves to her heart's content and then nipped back to her bed every morning before breakfast time. Luckily for her she was still expected to take a nap every day. It never occurred to her guardian to wonder why she was so willing to lie down quietly every afternoon.

haiku (for Rob)

Though the sunlight had

drilled a path through the clouds, I

did not see the moon.

Photo by: Osquer

One Word - so little time - one minute writing exercise [drilled]

Her mother had drilled honesty into her head from such an early age that when the time came that she needed to lie to her mother to save her life, she almost couldn't get the words out. "Come on, Mom! Dad's already in the tunnel!" He wasn't. She didn't actually know where her father was, but it was the only way she could get her mother out before the soldiers got there.

* * * * * * *

Gee, Rob, can you tell I've been watching "The Great Escape" today?

The Pick Osquer's One Word Contest...

OneWord doesn't seem to be updating. So, here's a contest to pick the word for me to write about. The first person to post a word in the comments wins. The prize is that I will use your word for my OneWord post. I will also write a haiku especially for you! I've got my sixty second timer set to go. Someone give me the word!

One of the best things about www.oneword.com for me was the fascination of being able to read other people's perspectives on the same word. So, if anyone out there would like to play along at home, I'd love it if you posted your own OneWord entry in the comments. Just set a sixty second timer (or guesstimate about a minute) and write whatever comes to your mind about the winning word for today. As they say on www.oneword.com (when it works) "Don't think. Just write." Then share your thoughts in the comments to my OneWord post. I'd love to see what you have to say!

magnetic haiku (for Jean-Luc Picard)

haiku

The sky, a pewter

and purple bruise, will just have

to cry itself out.

Photo by: Osquer

haiku

I saw a deer cross

the street today, and I looked,

but there were no more.

55 Fiction Friday

“It wasn’t until after their accidental death in a cave-in at one of my fath…that is, Professor Applegate’s digs that I learned that the Applegates weren’t my parents. It was only a week ago that I learned that you are my father, Your Grace.” With this Jessica held out her recently recovered birth certificate.

[FIRST] [PREVIOUS] (to be continued...)

One Word - so little time - 60 second writing exercise [moonlight]

Well, tomorrow's moonlight should be interresting, at least on this coast. The moon will already be partially eclipsed as it rises about 5:30 PM in the Eastern sky. The total lunar eclipse will turn the moon red. You can bet I'll be out there with my tripod. Oooh. I need to charge my camera batteries!

* * * * * * *

Thanks for a timely word, Captain Picard!

The Pick Osquer's One Word Contest...

OneWord doesn't seem to be updating. So, here's a contest to pick the word for me to write about. The first person to post a word in the comments wins. The prize is that I will use your word for my OneWord post. I will also write a haiku especially for you! I've got my sixty second timer set to go. Someone give me the word!

One of the best things about www.oneword.com for me was the fascination of being able to read other people's perspectives on the same word. So, if anyone out there would like to play along at home, I'd love it if you posted your own OneWord entry in the comments. Just set a sixty second timer (or guesstimate about a minute) and write whatever comes to your mind about the winning word for today. As they say on www.oneword.com (when it works) "Don't think. Just write." Then share your thoughts in the comments to my OneWord post. I'd love to see what you have to say!

magnetic haiku

falling rain plays cool
music whispering magic
to my trusting heart

One Word - so little time - 60 second writing exercise [profligate]

The older I get and the more of the world I see the more profligate society appears. I don’t know if human behavior is getting worse or if I’m just seeing more of the darker side of people. I only hope that the bad I see in the world does not outstrip the good that I continue to find if I keep looking for it.

haiku

Weariness curls up

in my flesh and bones like a

cat on the landing.

Fibonacci Poem

I

find

myself

wondering

how long vibrant art

takes to become a phantom sign.

Photo by: Osquer

One Word - so little time - 60 second writing exercise [surreptitious]

Her surreptitious entry into the race was about to become very public. She shuddered to think what her father would do when he saw her mounted on his own brother's horse, but her uncle believed in her ability. He also supported her right to try to succeed in the career of her choice. What her father didn't know was that her mother secretly supported her, too.